SANTA ANA – A Las Vegas man who pretended to be a doctor and treated Orange County residents — claiming he could cure diseases such as cancer and AIDS — pleaded guilty Tuesday to unauthorized practice of medicine and other charges.

Daryn Wayne Peterson, 37, pleaded guilty to one felony count each of unauthorized practice of medicine, operating a health-care service plan without a license, offering an unapproved drug for cancer treatment and a misdemeanor count of selling misbranded food.

Prosecutors will not recommend more than one year in prison when Peterson is sentenced Feb. 11 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh. He could have faced up to four years and four months in prison if he was convicted at trial, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Peterson drew the scrutiny of authorities after he was profiled in a June 10 Orange County Register article. Peterson claimed he could cure incurable diseases with vitamins and other supplements he prescribed, prosecutors said.

After the article ran, an Orange County District Attorney investigator, working undercover, made an appointment with Peterson who had a mail drop-box in Mission Viejo and agreed to meet with the “patient” at his Mira Loma apartment.

The undercover investigator told Peterson he was diagnosed with lymphoma and feared chemotherapy. Peterson told him he had treated many cancer patients and that the chemotherapy would kill him faster than cancer, prosecutors said. Peterson also allegedly boasted an 88 percent success rate treating cancer.

Peterson prescribed “Dr. P’s Mega-Multi 100” to the undercover agent, instructing him to take six teaspoons a day. An analysis of the “medicine” showed that two teaspoons exceeded the daily legal limit of lead, said Farrah Emami of the District Attorney’s Office.

Peterson also offered patients an insurance plan with an HMO not licensed by the state. He also claimed to be a doctor because he received a doctorate from Canterbury University, Emami said, but investigators determined it was not a real school and they obtained the same diploma by paying $180 for it online.

One of the so-called patients featured in the Register article was actually Peterson’s sister, Selena Lori Peterson, who dropped her last name for it, Emami said. Another “patient” featured in the article was Selena Lori Peterson’s boyfriend, Emami said.